Artificial food dyes that are created using petroleum will soon be a thing of the past, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced Tuesday.
Unveiling his new initiative to eliminate eight dyes, including red dye 40, yellow dye 5, yellow dye 6, blue dye 1, blue dye 2 and green dye 2 from the American food supply by the end of the year, RFK accompanied by FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the changes would contribute to Make America Healthy Again.
Additionally, the FDA is also requesting food companies to phase out red dye 3 by the end of next year, which is sooner than the 2027 to 2028 deadline previously announced,” reports CNBC.
The move would affect a multitude of brands across the food spectrum currently using the dyes in their products, including but not limited to Cheetos, Skittles and various breakfast cereals marketed towards children.
“Today, the FDA is taking action to remove petroleum-based food dyes from the U.S. food supply and from medications,” Makary declared at a press conference Tuesday, adding that “For the last 50 years, American children have increasingly been living in a toxic soup of synthetic chemicals.”
The FDA commissioner added they’ll first try gentle persuasion get food producers onboard with but that ultimately, “There are a number of tools at our disposal.”
“I believe in love, let’s start in a friendly way and see if we can do this without any statutory or regulatory changes, but we are exploring every tool in the toolbox to make sure this gets done very quickly. And they want to do it — so why go down a complicated road with Congress?” Makary said.
Presenting other ways to dye foods, the FDA commissioner suggested dyes made naturally, like those used in other countries.
“For companies that are currently using petroleum based red dye, try watermelon juice or beet juice. For companies currently combining petroleum-based yellow chemical and red dyes together, try carrot juice,” he said.
“The F in FDA stands for food,” Makary continued. “Now, there’s no one ingredient that accounts for the child chronic disease epidemic. And let’s be honest, taking petroleum-based food dyes out of the food supply is not a silver bullet that will instantly make America’s children healthy, but it is one important step.”
Taking the podium, Kennedy said people who want petroleum can add it to their foods at home.
“…I want to commend the food companies for working with us,” RFK said. “I was talking to my staff about these petroleum-based dyes, and I said if they want to eat petroleum, they ought to add it themselves… but they shouldn’t be feeding it to the rest of us.”
“For too long, some food producers have been feeding Americans petroleum-based chemicals without their knowledge or consent,” the HHS secretary said in a press release. “These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children’s health and development. That era is coming to an end. We’re restoring gold-standard science, applying common sense, and beginning to earn back the public’s trust. And we’re doing it by working with industry to get these toxic dyes out of the foods our families eat every day.”
Studies into various artificial dyes, including blue dyes 1 & 2 and yellow dyes 5 & 6, have found they have the possibility to cause cancer or tumors, as well as other health effects like ADHD.
For instance, yellow dye no. 5 “may be contaminated with several cancer-causing chemicals,” noted a 2010 report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
“In addition, Yellow 5 causes sometimes-severe hypersensitivity reactions in a small number of people and might trigger hyperactivity and other behavioral effects in children,” the report added. “Posing some risks, while serving no nutritional or safety purpose, Yellow 5 should not be allowed in foods.”
Watch RFK’s full press conference on eliminating food dyes below:
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